Good and bad local news:

Dick Hubert’s Worldview: Filtration plant to be built starting in 2025; Outrageous age-related NYS approved fees

September 4, 2024 at 11:28 p.m.

This schematic from Westchester Joint Water Works (WJWW) that cited the hoped for location of the court-ordered filtration plant is now the final location, with a projected start of construction in mid-2025.

A multi-decade campaigner for filtered clean water in our circulation area, Dottie Roer of Rye Brook buttonholed me recently with a fevered concern that once again politicians and billionaires would stop the much-needed, court-mandated Westchester Joint Water Works (WJWW) filtration plant from ever being built.

I tried to dissuade her with the news we’ve already reported: that the County Legislature had approved the land swap to allow the plant to be built at its new planned Westchester County Airport location on Purchase Street; that County Executive George Latimer had signed the legislation; and that the campaign to prevent that from happening had been destroyed by the sale by billionaire Michael Tokarz, owner of the land in question who backed the “Stop the Swap” protest, to another billionaire, Virgil Price, determined to keep the swap and prevent the original location from ever having anything built on it.

The latter development was by itself unbelievable.

But I owed it to Ms. Roer to check in with WJWW General Manager Paul Kutzy and his team to find out how they were proceeding both with the Town of Harrison and their permitting process and the Federal and State courts which were imposing massive fines every day the plant construction was delayed.

Definitive word from the WJWW

Last week Kutzy and his team e-mailed me the following.

First, Kutzy:

“Since June 3, 2024, when WJWW and the County entered into a contract for a land exchange at the airport property, WJWW is pleased to report that several approvals have been secured from the Harrison Planning Board and Harrison Town Board. It has been a lengthy and involved process and securing these approvals brings us closer to our goal of building the water filtration plant to protect the safety of our drinking water supply. We expect to be going out to bid for construction of the filtration plant as early as January 2025 and begin construction as early as May 2025.”

Next, Lori Lee Dickson, WJWW’s general counsel:

“Routine applications were submitted this week by WJWW for approval of land development by the Harrison Engineering Department, and approval of a building permit which requires approval by the Harrison Architectural Review Board, which we anticipate will be on their meeting agenda for September 10. These are the only remaining approvals required from Harrison. However, it should be noted that there are other regulatory agencies involved which we expect approval from by year’s end.

“WJWW and the three municipalities entered into a settlement agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, NY State Attorney General’s Office and State Department of Health in the form of a proposed consent decree. The consent decree was lodged with the federal court on June 24, 2024 along with a complaint and necessary paperwork from the State of New York to join in the omnibus settlement. In recognition of WJWW’s good faith efforts and the significant progress it has made in moving the filtration plant project forward, the settlement agreement resolves the governments’ claims for civil penalties at less than one percent of the statutory maximum penalties available under federal and state law.”

I asked just what the deal was on the massive fines, and who would wind up paying. The answers came from David Birdsall, WJWW’s business manager:

“Civil Penalties:

To the United States: $600,000

To the State of New York: $650,000

The WJWW Member Municipalities are responsible to fund WJWW’s payment of civil penalties at the following percentages calculated by dividing the gallons of water supplied to the municipality by the total gallons supplied to all three municipalities and established by the WJWW at the time the Joint Capital Project was established on December 17, 2019:

Village of Mamaroneck – 27.7%

Town of Mamaroneck – 16.7%

Town/Village of Harrison – 55.6%”

I asked Birdsall the obvious question every Westmore News reader in Rye Brook and Port Chester would ask: will we get hit with any payments since we use WJWW water (about 50% of what is supplied to Veolia, our water company, with the rest coming from reservoirs in Connecticut)?

His response: “They will not be directly responsible for payment of the civil penalties under the consent decree.”

Did you get that, fellow Rye Brook and Port Chester residents? We escaped the financial bullet, and we’re going to get our filtration plant.

Don’t break out the champagne yet but keep it in the refrigerator!

Another financial penalty
for living in New York State

These opinion pages have long been filled by readers (and even this columnist) complaining about higher and higher school taxes, Village taxes, Town taxes, County taxes, and New York State taxes.

So not to belabor the point, but here’s a new one.

Like many of you, I’m looking for every opportunity to keep my auto and home insurance bills down. But I understand that with climate change, forest fires, floods, and tropical storms, we’re all paying for higher homeowners’ insurance, as companies try to keep their balance sheets balanced against enormous losses from these natural catastrophes.

But this year, I was stunned that even with a perfect driving record, no accidents, no tickets, no nothing, my auto insurance bill jumped some $500—even though I dutifully take the online defensive driving test when required.

So I called up my agent to moan, and she said, there’s nothing we can do, because YOU live in New York State, and insurance companies are allowed to charge you $500 extra per year because of your age!

If, she said, you lived in New Hampshire or Maine, for example, there would be no added fee for your age.

That got me going, and so I did what maybe you can’t do: I wrote to our very legislatively powerful State Senator Shelley Mayer to voice outrage: why us oldsters? Why are you all in Albany trying to drive us out of the state to, say, Florida (it seems like a full half of my Homeowners Association winters in Florida and votes there, too). And I promised to publish her response.

Here it is:

"Currently, New York State allows insurers to consider age in authorizing rates. While there have been some efforts to prohibit the use of age as a determining factor, they have not been successful. This is largely because insurance companies have likely shared actuarial data defending their decisions. If there is adequate data to show that age is not a legitimate factor from an actuarial perspective, I would be open to pressing for legislative change."

Readers, I’m asking for help here, especially from those in the insurance and actuarial world.

I want to get Sen. Mayer on the side of seniors.

I know that age is a legitimate factor in, say, charging a premium for teenage drivers. And I know that poor driving records can boost one’s insurance premiums.

But age-based discrimination determined by where you live in the U.S.?

E-mail a letter to our editor ([email protected]), or just send your research and insights to me via our editor.

I hope some of you are as infuriated by this “tax” approved by New York State as I am. Even if you are not a “senior,” with luck you will be some day, and New York State will be after you if you stay here.

So, please join the fight.

Dick Hubert, a retired television news producer-writer-reporter living in Rye Brook, has been honored with the Peabody Award, the DuPont Columbia Award and the Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Journalism Award.

Editor’s Note: This column, written by Dick Hubert, represents his opinion and not that of this newspaper.